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1/26/2014

c.1920 Regal-made Victoria Parlor Guitar

This is another instrument from the Sween Collection and it's a late-teens, early-20s Regal-made guitar bearing B&J's "Victoria" brand in the soundhole. It came to me very clean and had a nicely-reset neck and a nicely-cleated hairline crack (the only one evident) on the top lower bout, but the original bridge was damaged along its front edge and actually split in two pieces when tuning it up.

I replaced the bridge, pins, and saddle, leveled and dressed the frets, and set it all up. It plays beautifully with a set of 50w-11 strings on it and the shorter 24 3/8" scale is easy on the fingers. The neck profile is big and v-shaped and the transverse bracing (like ladder bracing but with the main lower bout braces set at angles) gives it an open, rich tonality.

This guitar has a solid spruce top, dark-stained birch sides, and a dark-stained poplar back. The neck is also poplar and the fretboard is probably ebonized maple. The new bridge is ebonized rosewood and I installed some ebony pins and a new bone saddle along with it.

The only crack on the guitar is a hairline below the bridge to the side of the center seam. It was cleated and filled and sealed in the past and is good to go.

The bone nut looks original. I also swapped sides with these original tuners as the original mounting put the shafts and gears above the screws which isn't ideal.

Celluloid binding around the top edge and soundhole plus some nice muted wooden purfling is very common on these old Regals.

The finish shows some scratches and playwear as well as a few nicks, but overall it's in really good shape and gleams nicely.

The backstrip adds a touch of class.

Who doesn't like black buttons?

The chip case that comes with this guitar is not something you want to travel with but it serves just fine for storage.

2 comments:

Beautiful guitar! I think I have this guitar though mine bears no markings and needs a lot of work. The purfling is a dead ringer though. Same black button brass/steel tuners. Narrow headstock and decal strip on the back. The only difference I could spy besides the lack of labeling is the omission of the longitudinal brace that is under the black label on yours. Mine has a torn up bridge plate/brace and needs a neck reset badly. I'm am going to attempt to do it my self. Please wish me luck.